HR & Operations Lead

About HashWhale

HashWhale is a fintech company building a crypto Visa card that lets users spend digital assets as easily as fiat — anywhere cards are accepted. We are a fully distributed team working from locations around the world, and we operate with the speed and ownership mindset of an early-stage company.

Position Summary

Your first and most important mission is hiring. HashWhale is looking for a bilingual (English/Mandarin) HR & Operations Lead to recruit the teams behind our crypto Visa card business — and then help run that business day to day. You will handle recruitment end to end, from defining roles to closing key hires, while also supporting operations, customer experience, brand, partnerships, and compliance coordination as the company grows.

This is a hands-on generalist role for someone who communicates precisely in writing, uses AI tools as a core part of how they work, and is comfortable owning several functions at once. The role is fully remote, within a globally distributed team that collaborates across cultures and time zones by default.

Key Responsibilities

• Talent & team building — the first priority
• Run recruitment end to end for the technology and business development teams: define roles, source and assess candidates, close hires, and onboard them well.
• Build lightweight HR practices — performance goals, feedback cadence, and team structure — that scale with the company.
• Operations & customer experience
• Support the launch and daily operation of HashWhale's crypto Visa card products.
• Establish customer-support processes and handle important or escalated inquiries.
• Create operating procedures, metrics, budgets, reports, and scalable workflows.
• Growth & partnerships
• Manage social media accounts, the content calendar, community engagement, and brand communications in English and Mandarin.
• Develop partnerships and business-development opportunities across crypto, payments, and fintech.
• Compliance coordination
• Coordinate compliance workstreams and license applications with internal stakeholders, external legal counsel, compliance advisers, banking partners, and regulators. (This role coordinates these matters; legal and compliance advice is provided by qualified professionals.)
• Identify operational, compliance, customer, and reputational risks and escalate them appropriately.
• Ways of working
• Use AI tools — especially ChatGPT and Claude — daily for recruitment, research, communication, support, content, analysis, and documentation.
• Work directly with the founders to turn objectives into measurable results, and set up the communication, documentation, and project-management practices that make remote work efficient.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Full professional fluency in English and Mandarin Chinese, spoken and written.
• Proven experience recruiting and building cross-functional teams — this is the core of the role.
• Advanced, hands-on proficiency with ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI productivity tools.
• Strong knowledge of cryptocurrency, fintech, card payments, or digital financial services.
• Experience across operations, business development, customer support, social media, and project management.
• Familiarity with financial-services compliance and licensing processes.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and execution skills; able to work independently and take care of multiple functions.
• Strong remote-working skills, and willingness to join occasional meetings outside standard local hours for international coordination.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience launching or operating a crypto card, payment card, digital wallet, exchange, or fintech product.
• Experience with Visa/Mastercard programs, issuing banks, BIN sponsors, payment processors, or card-program managers.
• Experience communicating with regulators, compliance consultants, and legal counsel.
• An established network in crypto, fintech, banking, or payments, and experience managing a distributed remote team.
  
  

Success Measures

First 90 Days

• Create and begin executing a prioritized hiring plan.
• Build a qualified candidate pipeline for key technology and business development roles.
• Establish consistent sourcing, interviewing, evaluation, and onboarding processes.
• Fill or reach the final hiring stage for the most urgent positions.
• Introduce clear remote communication and documentation practices.
• Identify operational priorities and begin supporting the most important business workstreams.
  
  

First Year

• Build a capable technology and business development team within agreed budgets and timelines.
• Maintain strong hiring quality, candidate experience, onboarding, and retention.
• Establish scalable people and performance-management processes.
• Support the successful launch and operation of HashWhale’s crypto card business.
• Deliver measurable improvements in operational efficiency through AI and automation.
• Help create a reliable, accountable, and collaborative remote-working culture.
  
  

Why Join HashWhale

• Build the core team behind an early-stage crypto card business.
• Work directly with the founders and influence how the company grows.
• Take ownership of recruitment while developing broader startup leadership experience.
• Help create modern, AI-enabled people and operating practices.
• Work remotely with an international team across the crypto and fintech ecosystem.
  
  

How To Apply

Please send the following:

• Your résumé or CV.
• A short introduction explaining your interest in the role.
• Examples of technical or commercial positions you have recruited for.
• A brief explanation of how you use AI tools in your work.
• Your location, time zone, availability, and salary expectations.
• Confirmation of your professional fluency in English and Mandarin.
  
  

HashWhale is an equal-opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and make hiring decisions based on qualifications, merit, and business need.